Stove



Jan. 9, 1968 N. R. QQLE ET A1. 3,362,394

` STQVE Filed sept. 23, 1965 2 sheets-sheet 1 -b O v ATTORNEYS Jan. 9,1968 N, R COLE ET'AL STOVE 2 sheets-Sme; 2

Filed Sept. 23, 1965 TORS NORMAN R. COLE PHILIP A. DURYEE ATTORNEYSUnited States Patent O ABSCT F THE DISCLSURE The heater is made of sheetmetal and comprises a ire box or combustion chamber and an ash receivingdrawer positioned below a grate at the base of the re box. A damper isprovided adjacent the ash drawer to Control the circulation of air inthe fire box and to serve as a cover for the ash drawer when the damperis inverted.

The present invention relates to a prefabri-cated combination heater andfireplace unit particularly designed for use in boats, but also suitableIfor trailers, cabins and other small structures.

Representative objects of the invention are to provide such a unit whichis safe -for boat use, compact and light weight, simple to install,requires little wall clearance, is quick and easy to start and adjust,has provision for dustless ash removal without disturbing the fire, isdurable and eiiicient, and relatively inexpensive to produce.

Other obje-cts and advantages of the invention will appear and beunderstood in the following description and claims, the inventionconsisting in the novel construction and in the adaptation andcombination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a stove embodying the present inventionand with front slide damper partly open;

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line 2 2 of FG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken as indicated by line 3-3 inFIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional view taken as shown by line4--4 of FIG. 2, but with the lower damper in open position;

FIG. 5 is a detail vertical sectional view through the hinge of the doorillustrating the door in open position; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the ash drawer removed from thestove and fitted with the lower damper unit as a lcover preparatory todumping.

Referring to the drawings, it is seen that the stove of the presentinvention has a sheet metal heat exchanger 10 which may be a rectangularprism in shape with square top and bottom walls 1a-10b, and integralrectangular back and side walls 10c and 10d-10d, respectively. The heatexchanger is divided into an upper tire box and a lower ash collectionchamber by a removable expanded mesh grate 11 which is supported on aninturned flange 12.

At the front of the fire box the sheet metal forming the side walls 10dcontinues at 16e-19e to define the vertical edges of a rectangularopening 13 which is fitted with a removable door 14. Sheet metalcross-pieces 10j-10g define the top and bottom of the front opening 13and at their ends these, join the side portions 10e at butt joints,there being a pair of backing pieces 15 at the top joints and a backingstrip 16 at the bottom joints to which the respective parts are spotwelded. At the lower edge of the front opening 12 the cross-piece 10g isrolled at 10g inwardly over the backing strip 16 while at the sides andtop of the front opening the portions 10e and 10f have fianges 10e and10j', respectively, which turn inwardly at acute dihedral angles.

The front quarter of the grate support flange 12 is provided by thelower portion of the backing strip 16, and the other three quarters areformed by angle strips spot welded to the back and side walls of theheat exchanger. Along their edges the top and bottom walls 10a10b areformed with down-turned marginal lips 10d-10b. The upper lips 10a definean outer skirt which is welded over the top of the vertical walls,whereas the lower lips 10b tit inside the bottom of the vertical walls.

Continuing to the construction of the door 14, it is seen that there isprovided a solid transversely-corrugated upper panel 20 surmounting agrill panel 21. The latter is selectively covered by a slide shutter 22having an upper thumb screw 23 threaded therethrough to bear against thepanel 20, Side tracks 24 of I-section slidably receive the shutter 22and are welded to the side edge portions of the panels 20-21. At theirback the tracks 24 are formed with stiffening flanges 24a. When thescrew 23 is tightened it -forces the shutter 22 outwardly against thefront flange of the tracks 24 and thereby locks the shutter at thedesired opening.

To hinge the door 14 at the bottom and support it in open position theydoor is provided with inner and outer out-turned downwardly slopedbottom lips 25-26 arranged to straddle the bottom edge ofthe opening 13.The inner lip 25 functions to retain the lower end of the door relativeto the heat exchanger, whereas the outer lip 26 serves as a stop whenthe door is swung open to a nearly horizontal position as shown in FIG.5. In this position the outer edge of the lip 26 bears against the frontface of the crosspiece 10g.

At its upper end the door panel 20 is centrally dished outwardly and isperforated to receive a bolt 27 on which is pivoted a latch 28. Thislatch comprises a length of sheet metal strap bent to form an open loop29a serving as a catch and to form a flattened substantially closed loop28b serving as a handle. It will be noted that the ends of the -catch28a are spread by a spacer 30 sleeved on the bolt 27 while the head ofthe bolt is covered by the outer half of the handle loop.

When the door 14 is locked, the -catch 28a is wedged between the frontof the cross-piece 10e and the back face of a front cross-brace 32 whichbridges a three-sided shield 31 open to the front of the heat exchanger.Spa-ced from the sides 10d and back 10c of the latter the shieldpresents perforate Walls 33 and a solid wall 34, respec tively.

The walls 33 may comprise grills of cold rolled expanded steel mesh eachbordered at the front by a leg 35, at the top and bottom by U-rails36-37, and at the back by a respective forward flange extension 34a ofthe back wall 34. Sets of Z-brackets 38 and 39-39a are welded to the topand bottom corners of the side walls 10d and are bolted at 40 to thelegs 35 and fianges 34a. The bolts in the ilanges 34a also connectiianges 41a of a mounting panel 41 which is spaced by an air gap behindthe back wall 34 of the shield and extends above and below the top andbottom levels of the shield. Mounting holes 42 are located in theextensions of the panel 41 to receive screws for securing the unit to abulkhead.

Directing attention to the portion of the heat exchanger beneath thefire grate 11, housed therein is a removable ash box 43 and acombination under-fire draft control and ash box cover 44. The ash box43 takes the form of a sheet metal drawer which slides through theopening .13a between the cross-piece 10g andthe bottom wall 10b todirectly underlie the grate 11. However, the front wall 43a of the ashdrawer is purposely shorter than this opening 13a so that there will bean under-fire draft gap between the top of the front wall 43a and thebottom edge of the cross-piece 10g. Air fiow through this gap iscontrolled by the front wall 44a of the combination unit 44 which is ofa size to -completely cover the opening 13a. The remainder orf unit 44comprises a slide tray 44h open at the rear and having a pair ofup-turned shallow side flanges idc-44C which t part way over the sides13b of the ash drawer 43.

T he ront draft control wall 44a has a lower handle ddh of loopconfiguration above which there is a rectangular cutout 44d to receive amatching handle 43h on the front of the ash drawer. To keep the ashdrawer 43 and combination unit 44 in position and prevent rattling, theside Walls i315 and the side flanges 44C are provided with respectiveleaf springs 13s-44s, one above the other, which are secured at one endand free at the other, and belly outwardly in the center to yieldinglyengage the lower portion of the side walls 10c of the heat exchanger asillustrated in FG. 4.

A stub exhaust stack 5t! is provided in a center opening in the top`wall a of the heat exchanger for` receiving a vent pipe equipped with astandard damper disc (not shown). The outside opening of the vent pipeshould be covered with a suitable draft cap to keep out water and give aconstant negative draft.

The stove of the present invention may be very compact; for example, theheat exchanger 10 may be 6 X 6 x 13 with a 3" stack, in which case theshield 31 may be spaced about an inch `from the heat exchanger, and themounting panel 41 about 3A behind the shield. For this example, aminimum clearance of 4 below the stove and of 12" on the sides of thestove are recommended. If this side clearance is not possible for aparticular installation, additional shielding in the form of side platesduplicating the mounting plate 41 may be provided.

It is preferred that the heat exchanger and related parts be made of anon-corrosive high heat-resistant material such as stainless steel.However, the exterior of the heat exchanger should be painted dark formaximum heat radiation and the front face of the mounting plate 41 andof the adjacent back wall 34 should be light for maximum heatreflection.

To start the stove, a sheet of newspaper is crumpled and placed on thegrate 11 together with a handful of charcoal briquets or other fuel. Thepaper is ignited after opening the vent pipe damper and opening thelower draft cover 44a by pulling the lower handle 44h out about an inch.The door 14 is then closed and the slide damper 22 placed in loweredclosed position. After the fire is well started the vent damper in thestack is adjusted toward closed position to contain the stove heat andconserve fuel. The lower draft control 44a may be closed or left open asnecessary to maintain the desired iire.

After the lire is well started the stove can be used as a fireplace byopening the slide damper 22 in the door, or when not on a boat underway,by removing the door completely by lifting it free when partly open. Thetop surface of the heat exchanger may be used for warming or cooking.

During operation of the stove, air circulates upwardly around the heatexchanger and also in the space between the back wall 34 and themounting plate 41. This not only aids heat circulation but helps to keepthe surrounding structure from overheating. The exterior side `grillsnot only protect from direct contact with the hot heat exchanger, butalso serve to increase convection heating. At the same time the openarea of the grill allows the direct passage of radiant heat from thesides of the stove.

The removable drawer 43 below the fire bed collects the ashes andpermits ash removal without disturbing the re. Preparatory to removingthe drawer 43, the unit 44 is withdrawn by gripping the handle 44h, andis then inverted to locate the tray 44!) uppermost with the handle 43hback in the cutout 44C for application as a cover on the ash drawer 43when it is removed as illustrated in FIG. 6. With the unit 44 over thedrawer 43 the ashes can be dumped `without diiculty even in a stiffbreeze by gradually opening the cover with the assembly upside down.

It is believed that the invention will have been clearly understood fromthe foregoing detailed description of our illustrated now preferredembodiment. Minor changes in the details of construction will suggestthemselves and may be resorted to without departing from the spirit ofthe invention. We accordingly intend that no limitations be implied andthat the hereto annexed claims be given a scope fully commensurate withthe broadest interpretation to fwhich the employed language fairlyadmits.

What is claimed is:

1. A stove comprising a sheet metal heat exchanger having a fire boxexhausted at the top and having a bottom ash collection chamber withrespective front openings, a grate between said fire box and chamber, adoor on the front opening of the lire box, a removable ash collectiondrawer in said chamber and leaving a gap in the upper part of the frontopening of the ash collection chamber, a removable and invertable bottom`damper covering said gap and overlying the front of said drawer, saidbottom damper being slidably mounted relative to said drawer forselectively controlling air circulation through said gap and grate andsaid bottom damper serving as a tray normally underlying the bottom ofsaid drawer and adapted to serve as a cover for the drawer when thebottom damper is inverted, shield means surrounding the sides and backof said heat exchanger is in spaced relation thereto, and means `formounting said shield means on the heat exchanger.

2. A stove according to claim 1 in which said bottom damper has a fronthandle and a cutout, and said drawer has a front handle extendingforwardly through said cutout, said cutout being located such that saiddrawer handle will project through the cutout when said tray is beneaththe `drawer and also when the tray is serving as a cover for the drawer.

3. A stove according to claim 1 in which said door has a bottom grillportion selectively covered by a vertically sliding shutter and meansfor selectively locking said shutter relative to the door.

4. A stove according to claim 1 in which said shield means has a frontbrace, and said door is hinged at its bottom end, and has an upper latchswingably mounted thereon to move from a locked position between saidbrace and heat exchanger to an unlocked position beneath the level ofsaid brace.

5. A stove according to claim 4 in which said door is detachably hingedat its lower end for lift-out from said heat exchanger when the door isopen, said latch by engagement with said brace resisting upward movementof the door relative to the heat exchanger when the latch is in lockedposition.

6. A stove according to claim 1 in which an additional shield is spacedbehind the back of said shield means and is secured to the shield means,said additional shield also serving as a mounting -bracket for thestove.

7. A stove according to claim 1 in which said shield means hasrespective open grills opposing the sides of the heat exchanger and isclosed opposite the back of the heat exchanger, and an additional shieldspaced behind the back of said shield means and projecting above andbelow the top and bottom of said shield means, said additional shieldbeing connected to said shield means by forwardly extending closedextensions of the additional shield and having openings in its upper andlower projecting portions to receive fasteners for mounting the stove.

8. A stove according to claim 1, in which said shield means hasrespective open grills opposing the sides of the heat exchanger and isclosed opposite the back of the heat exchanger, an additional shieldspaced behind the back of said shield means and connected thereto byforwardly extending closed extensions of the additional shield to form avertical tunnel open top and bottom.

5 6 9. A stove according to claim y8 in which said shield ReferencesCited means and .additional shield both extend below the lev el UNITEDSTATES PATENTS of the bottom of said heat exchanger, and 1n whlch sa1dtunnel is exposed at its lower end to the space beneath 635566 10/,1899Mllbum 1%65 X said heat exchangen 5 2,716,405 8/ 1955 Nelson 126-67 X10. A stove according to claim 1 in which said door has a pair of siderails presenting opposed channels, a FOREIGN PTENTS solid corrugatedupper panel and ya lower grill panel 222,188 6/*1959 Allstralla. mountedin the back of said channels, a slide shutter ex- 156,873 1/21921 GreatBritain.

tending between said channels for selectively covering said 10 587,1824/ 1947 Great Britain. grill, and a lock screw at'the top of the shutterto selectively bear Iagainst the upper panel. CHARLES J. MYHRE, PrzmaryExaminer.

